Chondroblastoma of the thoracic spine: a rare location. Case report with radiologic-pathologic correlation.

Abstract

Chondroblastoma is a rare benign cartilage neoplasm that arises from the appendicular skeleton in the vast majority of the cases (80%). Chondroblastoma of the spine is an even more rare condition (30 cases reported), and vertebral chondroblastomas, unlike chondroblastomas of the extremities, present with the appearance of an aggressive tumor on CT and MR imaging and occur at least a decade later. Even though vertebral chondroblastomas are very uncommon tumors, they should nonetheless be included in the differential diagnosis when encountered with an aggressive vertebral mass, and a histological confirmation should be performed. We present a case of chondroblastoma of the thoracic spine of a 27-year-old female for which detailed radiologic-pathologic correlation was obtained.